US7555798B2 - Washer and washing cycle control method thereof - Google Patents

Washer and washing cycle control method thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
US7555798B2
US7555798B2 US10/963,593 US96359304A US7555798B2 US 7555798 B2 US7555798 B2 US 7555798B2 US 96359304 A US96359304 A US 96359304A US 7555798 B2 US7555798 B2 US 7555798B2
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Prior art keywords
motor
amount
laundry
drive voltage
acceleration section
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Expired - Fee Related, expires
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US10/963,593
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US20050086742A1 (en
Inventor
Seong Sik Kim
Kweon Son
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LG Electronics Inc
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LG Electronics Inc
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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F34/00—Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F34/14—Arrangements for detecting or measuring specific parameters
    • D06F34/18—Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2103/00—Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2103/02—Characteristics of laundry or load
    • D06F2103/04—Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2103/00—Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2103/24—Spin speed; Drum movements
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2103/00—Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2103/44—Current or voltage
    • D06F2103/46—Current or voltage of the motor driving the drum
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00—Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/02—Water supply
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2105/00—Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2105/56—Remaining operation time; Remaining operational cycles

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a washer and washing cycle control method thereof.
  • a drum type washer has a configuration shown in FIG. 1 as follows.
  • a tub 20 is fixed to an inside of a body 10 .
  • a drum 30 is rotatably installed within the tub 20 to be rotated by receiving a drive force of a BLDC (brushless direct current) motor 40 via belt 41 .
  • a plurality of baffles 31 are fixed to an inner circumference of the drum 30 to leave a predetermined distance from each other. And, the baffles 31 are operative in lifting a laundry upward within the drum 30 .
  • a sensor hose 60 is connected to a bottom of the tub 20 .
  • a water level sensor 50 is provided to a tip of the sensor hose 60 to sense an amount of water supplied to the tub 20 .
  • the water level sensor 50 applies a signal of sensing the amount of water to a system control unit 70 .
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the system control unit 70 of the general drum type washer.
  • the system control unit 70 consists of a converter 71 converting 220V AC voltage to DC voltage, an inverter unit 72 applying the DC voltage outputted from the converter 71 to the BLDC motor 40 as a power source according to a drive signal, a rotational speed sensing unit 73 sensing a rotational speed of the BLDC motor 40 , a water level sensing unit 74 sensing a water level within the tub 20 , a control unit 75 generating control signals according to various input signals of the water level sensing unit 74 , the rotational speed sensing unit 73 , and the like, and a gate drive unit 76 outputting drive signals according to the control signals outputted from the control unit 75 .
  • FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 A method of measuring a laundry amount in a drum type washer according to a related art is explained by referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as follows.
  • water is supplied to the drum at a water level previously set up by a user.
  • the control unit 75 sends a gate drive control signal and a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal to drive the BLDC motor 40 . In doing so, the control unit agitates the drum 40 in forward-to-reverse directions so that water can be evenly absorbed in the laundry.
  • PWM pulse width modulation
  • the water level is lowered below the water level previously set up by the user.
  • control unit 75 decides whether a water re-supply is necessary.
  • control unit 75 stops agitating the drum 30 in the forward-to-reverse directions. After having re-supplied water up to the previously set water level, the control unit 75 agitates the drum 30 again.
  • the control unit 75 repeatedly performs the above-explained procedure during a prescribed time t 1 and counts the number of performing the water re-supply.
  • the control unit 75 decides the laundry amount of the laundry according to the counted number of performing the water re-supply. If the counted number is small, it is decided that the laundry amount is small. If the counted number is great, it is decided that the laundry amount is large.
  • a criteria of deciding the laundry amount according to the water re-supply number is determined via tests to be programmed in the control unit 75 .
  • the water re-supply number is smaller than ‘2’, it is decided that the laundry amount of the laundry is smaller than 2 kg. If the water re-supply number is greater than ‘7’, it is decided that the laundry amount of the laundry is greater than 5 kg.
  • the related art laundry amount deciding method is carried out in a manner of deciding the laundry amount using the water re-supply number after completion of supplying the water into the drum, whereby a washing time is fixed regardless of the laundry amount of the laundry as well as an amount of used water is almost identical.
  • the present invention is directed to a washer and washing cycle control method thereof that substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
  • An object of the present invention which has been devised to solve the foregoing problem, lies in providing a washer and washing cycle control method thereof, by which a laundry amount of a laundry can be measured prior to a water supply despite a dry state of the laundry.
  • the present invention is characterized in finding to use a motor RPM amount of an acceleration section, a motor RPM amount of a deceleration section, and a motor drive voltage amount applied during the acceleration time by accelerating to stop a rotation of a drum using a motor prior to a water supply.
  • the present invention measures a laundry amount of the laundry.
  • a method of controlling a washing cycle including the steps of applying a drive voltage to the motor during an acceleration section to measure a motor RPM amount and a drive voltage amount during the acceleration section before supplying water to the drum, stopping supplying the drive voltage to the motor to measure a motor RPM amount of a deceleration section, and measuring a laundry amount of the laundry using the motor RPM amount of acceleration section, the drive voltage amount of the acceleration section, and the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section.
  • a washer including a drum holding a laundry therein, a motor rotating the drum, and a control unit executing a sub-routine for measuring a laundry amount of the laundry prior to a water supply to the drum, the sub-routine including the steps of applying a ramp drive voltage to the motor during an acceleration section to measure a motor RPM amount and a drive voltage amount during the acceleration section, stopping supplying the ramp drive voltage to the motor to measure a motor RPM amount of a deceleration section, and measuring a laundry amount of the laundry using the motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, the drive voltage amount of the acceleration section, and the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section.
  • the laundry amount is found by ‘area-A ⁇ Vref/Vdc+C ⁇ area-B/area-A’ where A, B, Vref, Vdc, and C are the motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section, a reference DC voltage, a DC drive voltage amount applied during the acceleration section, and a constant for weight, respectively.
  • the laundry amount of the laundry is measured prior to supplying the water to the washer, whereby the power consumption for the laundry amount measurement and a used water amount can be considerably reduced.
  • FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram of a general drum type washer
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control drive of a general drum type washer
  • FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a sub-routine for measuring a laundry amount of a laundry in a drum type washer according to a related art
  • FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of a drum type washer for explaining a principle of measuring a laundry amount of a laundry in a drum type washer according to a related art
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a sub-routine for measuring a laundry amount of a laundry in a drum type washer according to the present invention
  • FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are graphs of explaining a process of accelerating or stopping a rotation of a motor according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 7 is a diagram of a circuit for stopping supplying a drive voltage applied to a motor.
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a sub-routine for measuring a laundry amount of a laundry in a drum type washer according to the present invention
  • FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are graphs of explaining a process of accelerating or stopping a rotation of a motor according to the present invention
  • FIG. 7 is a diagram of a circuit for stopping supplying a drive voltage applied to a motor.
  • a washer includes a drum holding a laundry therein, a motor rotating the drum, and a control unit executing a sub-routine for determining a laundry amount of the laundry prior to a water supply to the drum.
  • the sub-routine includes the steps of applying a ramp drive voltage to the motor during an acceleration section to measure an RPM amount of the motor and a drive voltage amount during the acceleration section, stopping supplying the ramp drive voltage to the motor to measure the RPM amount of the motor during a deceleration section, and measuring the laundry amount of the laundry using the RPM amount of the motor during the deceleration section.
  • the acceleration section lies between a start time point of supplying the drive voltage to the motor and an end time point of supplying the drive voltage to the motor. And, the deceleration section lies between the end time point of supplying the drive voltage and a rotation-stop time point of the motor.
  • control unit which generates the various corresponding control signals according to various signals inputted from the water level sensing unit and the rotational speed sensing unit, measures the laundry amount of the dry laundry instead of determining the laundry amount of the laundry according to the water supply number in the related art method.
  • the control unit of the drum type washer accelerates a rotation of the motor by applying a ramp drive voltage to the motor during a prescribed time before supplying water to the drum and then short-circuits three-phase coils of the motor. Namely, the control unit stops the supply of the ramp drive voltage applied to the motor to decelerate the accelerated motor, thereby stopping the rotation of motor eventually.
  • the control unit measures a motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, a motor RPM amount of the deceleration section, and the ramp drive voltage amount applied to the motor during the acceleration section.
  • the motor is the three-phase coil type DC motor and the ramp drive voltage is DC voltage.
  • the control unit enables to measure the laundry amount of the laundry which is in a dry state using the motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section, and the ramp drive voltage amount applied to the motor during the acceleration section.
  • control unit In performing the washing cycle in the drum type washer, the control unit, as shown in FIG. 5 , preferentially measures the laundry amount of the laundry that is in the dry state before the water is supplied to the drum.
  • control unit controls the motor drive unit before supplying the water to the drum so that a DC voltage having a uniform slope, i.e., ramp drive voltage, to the motor to accelerate the rotation of the motor.
  • the acceleration section is determined to lie between 2 ⁇ 5 seconds. Specifically, the acceleration section is determined to correspond to about two or three seconds in case of a small laundry, i.e., light load. And, the acceleration section is determined to correspond to about five seconds in case of a heavy load. As mentioned in the foregoing description, the acceleration section can be previously determined according to a kind or amount of the laundry appropriately.
  • control unit After the acceleration section has passed, the control unit short-circuits the three-phase coils of the DC motor to decelerate the accelerated motor, thereby stopping the motor eventually.
  • the control unit measures the motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section, and the ramp drive voltage applied to the motor during the acceleration section.
  • the motor RPM amounts of the acceleration and deceleration sections are found by ‘1 ⁇ 2 (Sm ⁇ As)’ and ‘1 ⁇ 2 (Sm ⁇ Ds)’, respectively, where ‘As’, ‘Ds’, and ‘Sm’ are the acceleration section, the deceleration section, and a maximum motor speed during the acceleration section, respectively.
  • the control unit measures the precise laundry amount of the laundry in the dry state using the measured information.
  • control unit determines the washing time and water amount for the washing cycle based on the measured laundry amount and then executes the washing cycle according to the determined washing time and water,
  • a DC ramp voltage as shown in FIG. 6A , having a constant increase slope during a period of time 0 ⁇ t 2 is applied to the motor before the water is supplied to the drum type washer and then stops being supplied to the motor at a time point t 2 .
  • the acceleration section, the motor RPM amount of the acceleration section, the deceleration section, and the motor RPM amount of the deceleration section are indicated by ‘t 2 ’, ‘area-A’, ‘t 3 ⁇ t 2 , and ‘area-B’, respectively.
  • the control unit measures the laundry amount of the laundry using the motor RPM amount (area-A) of the acceleration section, the motor RPM amount (area-B) of the deceleration section, and the DC ramp voltage Vdc applied to the motor during the acceleration section.
  • ‘area-A ⁇ Vref/Vdc’ means a voltage compensation because the area-A is affected by the laundry amount of the laundry and the DC drive voltage.
  • C ⁇ area-B/area-A means an area compensation because the area-B is affected by the laundry amount of the laundry and the area-A.
  • the constant ‘C’ is considered as a weight for the ‘area-A ⁇ Vref/Vdc’ and ‘Vref’ is a DC reference voltage. In case of DC voltage, the ‘Vref’ is about 5V.
  • FIG. 7 shows a process of stopping a supply of the DC ramp drive voltage after the rotation of the DC motor has been accelerated by applying the DC ramp voltage during the prescribed time t 2 .
  • the motor having been accelerated until the time t 2 is decelerated to stop in a manner of short-circuiting the three-phase coils short-circuited by turning on the entire switches S 1 , S 2 , and S 3 of inverters.
  • the laundry amount of the laundry in the dry state is measured prior to supplying the water to the washer, whereby the washing time and the water amount can be appropriately determined.
  • the present invention enables to prevent the energy and water from being unnecessarily wasted.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
  • Control Of Washing Machine And Dryer (AREA)
US10/963,593 2003-10-23 2004-10-14 Washer and washing cycle control method thereof Expired - Fee Related US7555798B2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KRP2003-0074062 2003-10-23
KR1020030074062A KR100629526B1 (ko) 2003-10-23 2003-10-23 드럼 세탁기의 포량 감지 장치 및 그 방법

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US20050086742A1 US20050086742A1 (en) 2005-04-28
US7555798B2 true US7555798B2 (en) 2009-07-07

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US (1) US7555798B2 (de)
EP (1) EP1526211B1 (de)
KR (1) KR100629526B1 (de)
CN (1) CN1609329B (de)
AT (1) ATE486987T1 (de)
AU (1) AU2004220730B2 (de)
DE (1) DE602004029855D1 (de)
ES (1) ES2352004T3 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8914930B2 (en) 2010-04-13 2014-12-23 Whirlpool Corporation Laundry treating appliance with load amount detection
US9840805B2 (en) 2015-06-17 2017-12-12 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Methods for determining load mass in washing machine appliances
US11028517B2 (en) 2018-07-18 2021-06-08 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Washing machine appliance and methods for out-of-balance detection and mitigation

Families Citing this family (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN102449225B (zh) * 2009-08-31 2014-08-20 Lg电子株式会社 洗衣机的控制方法
KR101190360B1 (ko) * 2011-03-08 2012-10-16 엘에스산전 주식회사 유도 전동기의 제동 장치
KR101505189B1 (ko) 2012-10-09 2015-03-20 엘지전자 주식회사 세탁물 처리기기, 및 그 동작방법
KR101608659B1 (ko) * 2013-08-14 2016-04-04 엘지전자 주식회사 세탁물 처리기기 및 그 제어방법
KR101615979B1 (ko) * 2013-08-14 2016-04-28 엘지전자 주식회사 세탁물 처리기기 및 그 제어방법
CN105256507B (zh) * 2015-10-30 2018-06-29 无锡飞翎电子有限公司 滚筒洗衣机及其负载称重方法
CN108691149A (zh) * 2017-04-10 2018-10-23 台达电子工业股份有限公司 无感测器的直流无刷马达负载测量方法以及其装置
CN109208260A (zh) * 2017-07-01 2019-01-15 松下家电研究开发（杭州）有限公司 布量检知方法及洗衣机

Citations (7)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3638090A (en) * 1968-05-30 1972-01-25 Philips Corp Driving arrangement for the drum of a washing machine
US4556827A (en) * 1980-04-17 1985-12-03 General Electric Company Laundering apparatus, method of operating a laundry machine, control system for an electronically commutated motor, method of operating an electronically commutated motor, and circuit
US5200684A (en) * 1988-04-18 1993-04-06 Whirlpool Corporation Electrical motor monitoring system for a domestic appliance
EP0536542A1 (de) 1991-10-11 1993-04-14 Zanussi Elettrodomestici S.p.A. Verfahren zum Erfassen des Wäschegewichts in Waschmaschinen
GB2325245A (en) 1997-05-16 1998-11-18 Toshiba Kk A drum-type washing machine
EP1201811A2 (de) 2000-10-24 2002-05-02 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Trommelwaschmaschine mit einer Einrichtung zur Ermittlung des Wäschegewichtes
EP1428925A1 (de) 2002-12-10 2004-06-16 Lg Electronics Inc. Verfahren zur Steuerung einer Waschmaschine mit automatischer Ermittlung von Beladung

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3638090A (en) * 1968-05-30 1972-01-25 Philips Corp Driving arrangement for the drum of a washing machine
US4556827A (en) * 1980-04-17 1985-12-03 General Electric Company Laundering apparatus, method of operating a laundry machine, control system for an electronically commutated motor, method of operating an electronically commutated motor, and circuit
US5200684A (en) * 1988-04-18 1993-04-06 Whirlpool Corporation Electrical motor monitoring system for a domestic appliance
EP0536542A1 (de) 1991-10-11 1993-04-14 Zanussi Elettrodomestici S.p.A. Verfahren zum Erfassen des Wäschegewichts in Waschmaschinen
GB2325245A (en) 1997-05-16 1998-11-18 Toshiba Kk A drum-type washing machine
CN1199787A (zh) 1997-05-16 1998-11-25 株式会社东芝 滚筒式洗衣机
EP1201811A2 (de) 2000-10-24 2002-05-02 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Trommelwaschmaschine mit einer Einrichtung zur Ermittlung des Wäschegewichtes
EP1428925A1 (de) 2002-12-10 2004-06-16 Lg Electronics Inc. Verfahren zur Steuerung einer Waschmaschine mit automatischer Ermittlung von Beladung

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8914930B2 (en) 2010-04-13 2014-12-23 Whirlpool Corporation Laundry treating appliance with load amount detection
US9840805B2 (en) 2015-06-17 2017-12-12 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Methods for determining load mass in washing machine appliances
US11028517B2 (en) 2018-07-18 2021-06-08 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Washing machine appliance and methods for out-of-balance detection and mitigation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU2004220730B2 (en) 2010-11-11
AU2004220730A1 (en) 2005-05-12
CN1609329B (zh) 2010-06-02
US20050086742A1 (en) 2005-04-28
CN1609329A (zh) 2005-04-27
ES2352004T3 (es) 2011-02-14
EP1526211B1 (de) 2010-11-03
KR100629526B1 (ko) 2006-09-27
EP1526211A1 (de) 2005-04-27
KR20050038792A (ko) 2005-04-29
DE602004029855D1 (de) 2010-12-16
ATE486987T1 (de) 2010-11-15

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